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THE HATE BREEDERS 



THE 
HATE BREEDERS 



A DRAMA OF WAR AND PEACE 
IN ONE ACT AND FIVE SCENES 



By 

EDNAH AIKEN 

Author of The River 



With an Introduction by Henri La Fontaine, President 
of the International Bureau of Peace 



INDIANAPOLIS 

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



Copyright 1916 

TaE Bobbs-Merrill Company 

All Dramatic Rights Reserved 






t*r<* 



* 



**.«& 



PRESS OF 

BRAUNWORTH & CO. 

SOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



MAR 29 1916 
©CI.D 43620 



To "My Son" 

My "Max" 
Douglas Sedgwick Aiken 



INTRODUCTION 

Where does the spirit float to on the seething sea of 
anesthesia? Does it dream, or lose itself, or remem- 
ber? The German soldier in this play remembers! He 
lives through his revolt against the stupendous stu- 
pidity of man, he relives his rebellion against the 
tricks which lure men to the brilliant death — armies 
singing, armies cheering in a rapture of pride and 
might, flags unfurled and waving, in a glory of sun- 
shine and color! He passes again through the grim 
reality, no more a splendid picture, but a tragedy of 
blood and groans, of remorse and death. 

Terrible in its swift antithesis the unusual and sug- 
gestive work before us, enriching American and world 
literature alike, new in the form adopted, new in its 
crude realism, it avoids a declamatory tone, and re- 
mains human throughout. A nightmare of despair ! 

To the soldier, struck down in the fight, no other 
thought is conceivable than to escape by death without 
awaking from the hell into which the entire world 
seemed plunged. What other hope could he have, sur- 
rounded as he is by sufferings unspeakable, himself, 
his world, victims ! How could he hope for better 
times when force is worshiped as the almighty power? 

Logically, no idea can prevail in his anguished mind 
but the idea of annihilation, the idea of a collective 
annihilation of the peoples, of an earth rid of men and 
freed of crimes. 

We, however, the bystanders and onlookers, far off 
or near the terrible holocaust, we to whom leisure is 
allowed to ponder and speculate, are we unable to 
draw another conclusion? Are we ready indeed to 
agree with the maimed warrior and to support his 
separate wish? Is death, for the world, the goal of six 
thousand years of struggle and illusion? 



INTRODUCTION 

We have subdued mountains and seas, fire and air, 
but we have not subdued ourselves. And the earth 
became a hell by our common and ruthless will. And 
the kings, emperors and rulers became the satraps of 
death. 

Are we bound forever to repeat, again and again, 
that war is war, that there was always war, and that 
there will always be, that men are not masters of their 
destinies, that freedom for the peoples is a vain dream, 
that brotherhood is a farce, that races which are long- 
ing for peace are doomed to be slaughtered, looted, 
crushed and killed ; that universal hatred is the normal 
status of mankind? 

Such are the questions, pressing and countless and 
confusing, which will pour down on the readers of the 
following pages. What answer will be theirs ? Will 
they claim that they are powerless and that it is wasted 
time to oppose those who want war? Or will they 
grasp at last that numerous are those who abhor the 
bloody game; that the crowds, by their cowardice and 
their dumbness alone, have given power to their war- 
like leaders? Will they be the trumpets of anger and 
contempt which will throw down the walls of preju- 
dice and ignorance? 

At all the crossroads, men and women have preached 
this gospel, but to them the masses have listened with 
deaf ears. 

Here it is, as it is, this cursed war, in this play, with 
its rapid and striking scenes. May it arouse ideas, and 
awake hearts and brains, and instil in men the definite 
and peremptory will to wipe out forever the crime 
made of crimes, the breeder of crimes, the crime war is ! 

Henri La Fontaine, 
President of the International Bureau of Peace, 
Professor of International Law. 



THE HATE BREEDERS 



THE HATE BREEDERS 



FIRST SCENE 

The interior of a chateau near Louvain. The room, 
distinguished by a fine renaissance mantel, and deco- 
rated in the style of Louis Quinze, makes an incongru- 
ous operating-room. An operating table is in the center 
of the room, in disordered and unpleasantly suggestive 
condition. The room opens at right into a hall. There 
are two doors at left. The windows at the rear give a 
distant view of Louvain. Every little while lurid 
lights flame up, turning the eyes of the nurses and 
doctors with pitiful, or gratified, comprehension to- 
ward the blaze. The lights die down, and flame up 
again. 

Two Red Cross nurses, both German, are cleaning 
up after an operation which has just taken place. They 
hurry, in a scattered, nervous way, every light in the 
distance, every noise startling them and stopping their 
work. There is heard a loud explosion, not far distant. 

FIRST NURSE 

Dropping bloody towels that she had just 
picked up. 

r Abomb! 

SECOND NURSE 



] Ach! Those fearful bombs ! 



THE HATE BREEDERS 
FIRST NURSE 

Not far off, that one ! 

ANOTHER NURSE 

Peering in from hall. 

Hurry up with this room. They're wait- 



ing for it. 



Sounds of screaming come through the 
open door. 



SECOND NURSE 
What's that? 

FIRST NURSE 
How near was that bomb? 

NURSE 

I didn't hear anything. 

Withdraws, closing the door after her. 

SECOND NURSE 
What was that noise? Screams — 



Retreating. 



THE HATE BREEDERS 3 

FIRST NURSE 

One of the mad ones. They brought in 
another this morning. He's screamed ever 
since they brought him in. 

SECOND NURSE 

Pitifully, as though she were looking down 
on the wounded soldier. 

Really mad, you mean? Or out of his 
head, the poor dear? 

FIRST NURSE 
Mad, they said. They think he's not badly 
hurt. But he keeps on screaming. It gets on 
my nerves. They were going to give him 
the ray. 

SECOND NURSE 
Shivering as she returns to her work. 

The mad ones are the worst. 

FIRST NURSE 

Cleaning up vigorously the operating table. 

Do you wonder they go mad, the smells, 
the fearful sights, the noise? 



4 THE HATE BREEDERS 

SECOND NURSE 

Clapping her hands over her ears as though 
to shut out memories. 

A ch, the noises ! 

HEAD NURSE 

Coming in. 

Is everything ready? 

FIRST NURSE 

Bustling around. 

A few minutes. It was a bloody mess. 

SECOND NURSE 

Stopping in front of one of the long win- 
dows. 

See! That light! A fire! It's growing 
brighter. It's a big fire. 

SECOND NURSE 

Looking up from the basket into which she 
is throwing rags and lint and gory ban- 
dages. 

Is it the mad one next? I don't like the 
mad ones! 



THE HATE BREEDERS 5 

HEAD NURSE 

Set that basket out. I don't know. Each 
one as it comes. Was the floor washed up? 

FIRST NURSE 

We had to do it ourselves. As well as we 
could in the time they gave us. The char- 
woman ran off to see if it was her son that 
was brought in dying. We haven't seen her 
since. We were not given time to do it right. 

HEAD NURSE 

Looking around the room with an expres- 
sion of resignation in which determina- 
tion is blended. One can see that hers 
is a character of executive sternness tem- 
pered with sorrow and fatigue. She 
looks strained almost to the breaking 
point. 

Get yourselves ready. 

The two nurses go to a basin, and "scrub 
up" vigorously. 

HEAD NURSE 

Picking up scraps of lint here and there, 
and straightening things in a weary su- 
perficial way. 



6 THE HATE BREEDERS 

This will have to do. 

The door opens, and a surgeon enters from 
the hall. 

SURGEON 
r All ready? 

HEAD NURSE 

Shrugging. 

It's not very fit! 

SURGEON 
We've got to get him on the table before 
he begins again. 

SECOND NURSE 

To herself, drying her arms. 

It is the mad one! 

SURGEON 
He's been screaming ever since we found 
him. He screamed until he fainted. Under 
the ray. He was pretending death when we 
found him. 

SECOND NURSE 

Clasping her hands with piteous compre- 
hension. 



THE HATE BREEDERS J 

He didn't want to live. He didn't want 
to get well ! 

Surgeon goes to basin to scrub as the door 
opens and a wheeled stretcher is brought 
in, followed by two men, a doctor and 
the head surgeon, and a white-swathed 
nurse. 

SECOND NURSE 

Her sympathy pulling her toward the 
stretcher, her eyes full of pitiful under- 
standing. 

Not mad! Not mad, the poor dear! 

The stretcher is moved toward the table 
as the head surgeon goes to a basin and 
falls briskly and cheerfully to the work 
of "scrubbing up." The white-swathed 
nurse waits on him, holding out steril- 
ized towels and green soap. She is all 
in white. Her head is turbaned in 
white gauze; her arms are bandaged 
with white gauze. 

FIRST NURSE 

Look! The fire! They are burning 

Louvain ! 

SECOND NURSE 

Crosses herself. 
Burning the churches! 



8 THE HATE BREEDERS 

SECOND SURGEON 

Get him on the table. Take his feet. 
Careful if he comes to ! He's wild. 

SECOND NURSE 

Standing with crossed arms, and looking 
down on him pitifully. 

And only a boy! 

They unfasten his straps which bind him 
to the stretcher. They raise him care- 
fully, placing him on the table, feet 
fronting toward the stage. 

SECOND SURGEON 

Have a care ! He's coming to ! 

They all jump forward as the wounded 
soldier struggles to a sitting posture. 
He sits bolt upright, deadly pale. He 
glares at the nurses and surgeons, giv- 
ing the audience opportunity to see his 
face distinctly. He is a strong husky 
lad of about twenty-three. He wears a 
small mustache, and has three Heidel- 
berg scars across his cheeks, long pur- 
ple welts. The attendants try to get 
him down, but he fends them off with 
surprising strength. The doctor makes 
a sign to an attendant to get behind 
him, and together they support him 
from behind. 



THE HATE BREEDERS 9 

SOLDIER 

Fiercely. 

I won't live. I tell you. I won't live. I 
won't go back to that hell. You shall not 
send me back. Hell, d'ye hear me say it? 

He glares wildly around at the strange 
faces that are staring at him. 

Hell! 

FIRST NURSE 
He is raving. 

SECOND NURSE 

Shaking her head, and speaking softly, as 
though to herself. 

The poor dear ! He is not raving ! 

SURGEON 

Coming over from basin, and rubbing 
his hands complacently. He is a tall 
bearded man with glasses, which make 
him look like an owl. He is the type 
of German doctor who has made up his 
mind to everything. He has furnished 
it, that complacent mind of his, as one 
furnishes a room in the prevailing, con- 
ventional mode ; has closed all the win- 
dows, and pulled to the curtains. There 
is a ready bland sympathy of lips and 



IO THE HATE BREEDERS 

eyes, a mask-like, unwarming sympathy, 
because he can not understand anything 
he does not want to believe. 

There, there, that's all right, my dear 
boy. You will be all right to-morrow. 

SOLDIER 

Trying to free himself from the strong 
hands which hold him. 

I won't live. I won't live. Why did you 
bring me here? Why didn't you let me die? 
Do you think I am afraid of death? What 
is death ! But that — hell ! You want to send 
me back there? What right have you? 
What right have you to say, first: You must 
not live! And then: You must not die? 

SURGEON 
Quiet, quiet, mein lieber. It's going to be 
all right. You mustn't excite yourself. 

SECOND SURGEON 
Get him down. 

SOLDIER 

Don't touch me. Don't you touch me! 



THE HATE BREEDERS II 

SURGEON 

We've got to get those bullets, mein 
lieber. 

SOLDIER 

You won't. I tell you, you won't. It is 
my body. They're my bullets. You'll not 
take them from me. It is my death. You'll 
not take it from me. 

Swiftly, before they realize what he is do- 
ing, he begins to tear off his bandages. 

SECOND SURGEON 
God ! Get him down ! 

They fall on him, and strap him, scream- 
ing. 

SECOND SURGEON 
The anesthesia! 

DOCTOR 

Ready! 

He is in white, like the two surgeons. He 
holds in his hands the cone for the an- 
esthesia. 



12 THE HATE BREEDERS 

THE NURSE 

There, mein lieber. Breathe deep. No, 

quiet. Try to breathe quietly. Try to sleep. 

Think that your mother is here. No, quiet, 

my dear. Think that it is your mother who 

holds your hand. Can you feel it? Hold 

it tight. No, no, mein lieber, ruhig, ruhig, 

bleiben. Breathe deep, my son. 

The maternal words are softly incongru- 
ous. Though the madonna light is in 
her eyes, she looks, in her white swath- 
ings, like a girl of sixteen. 

Breathe deep, my son! 

HEAD SURGEON 
Don't let go of him until he's well under! 

The soldier can be seen to struggle under 
the white sheets, and the cone moves 
violently. 

WHITE-ROBED NURSE 
} Ach, quiet, my son ! There, there, breathe 
deep! Quiet, quiet, my son! 

SURGEON 
Keep hold of him. 



THE HATE BREEDERS 13 

NURSE 
He's getting it now! 

As they stand watching him, one surgeon 
holding his pulse, his eye on his watch, 
a small noise starts, like the sound of an 
approaching electric car, or a dynamo, 
clap, clap, clap, getting louder as the 
room grows darker. 

NURSE 

Leaning over patient. 

Can you hear me speak? Press my hand. 

To doctor. 

Give him more. Can you hear me now? 

Press my hand. 

The throbbing grows louder, almost deaf- 
ening, until the room is in total darkness, 
the light of the fires outside appearing 
to be slowly shrouded. 

VOICE OF THE NURSE 
As though muffled, and from a distance. 

'He's off! 

There is an interim of darkness, during 
which the anesthetic clapping or throb- 
bing continues. Muffled whispers and 
hurried movements can be heard, here 
and there a word detaching itself from 
the throbbing. 

More ether! Breathe deep! The gauze! 



SECOND SCENE 

When the lights return, an underground beer hall in 
Berlin is disclosed. It is night. Tables are about the 
room, surrounded by men in uniform and in civilian 
clothes. The soldier of the preceding scene, from now 
on called Max Dohrman, is the center of an excited 
group. 

FIRST SPEAKER 

The war is here. We can't stop it. 

MAX 
We can. If we refuse to fight, if the Ger- 
man Socialist refuses to fight, we will light 
a torch in Germany that will rouse the 
world. If the Kaiser's soldiers refuse to 
fight, how can he have war? 

ANOTHER VOICE 
They'll drag us in. They'll force us. 

MAX 

How can they force us? 

SECOND VOICE 
They'll shoot us. 

14 



THE HATE BREEDERS 15 

FIRST SPEAKER 
They'll shoot us, whatever we do. They'll 
shoot us if we don't fight, and they'll let us 
be shot if we do fight, and there you are, as 
I see it. 

MAX 

Inflammatorily. 

What's being shot? What's the death of 
a few men, a glorious martyr's death, a 
death for a cause, for a principle, what's 
that sort of death? Glorious! What's the 
death of a few men who say: "There shall 
be no more wars. We are not savages. Nor 
slaves." Being shot, that's nothing. Being 
shot, that's all ! The death of a few of us, 
instead of thousands; no, millions! And 
ruined homes, and a ruined country; and 
then more hatreds working up more wars! 
Let's end it. Being shot's easy. God, do 
you know what war is? It's hell. Just hell. 
It's hunger, it's fire, it's anger and cruelty; 
it's lust; it's torture. Just hell. Being shot's 
nothing. Dying's nothing. They'll shoot 



16 THE HATE BREEDERS 

true, our companions, and then it's done. 
War is done. No more war; king-made 
wars. No more hell. 



THIRD VOICE 
It's hell we're in for. 

MAX 



Gloomily. 



Leaping on table. 

No, I tell you. No! You can stop it. 

You and I! We can raise a cry that will 

wake Germany. She's asleep, Germany is, 

dreaming the dreams they tell her to dream. 

Say that the German soldier has refused to 

fight. Say that there shall be no more war, 

no more organized murder. This is either 

the birthday of our freedom, of civilization, 

or its funeral. But it's now, comrades. It's 

nowl 

FOURTH VOICE 

To be shot as a traitor! 

FIFTH VOICE 
The death of a traitor won't help the 
cause! 



THE HATE BREEDERS 17 

MAX 

Afire with enthusiasm. 

Where are your principles? Your ideas 
of freedom? Gone at the sound of a bugle 
call! Who was it said he'd refuse to die 
the death of a slave and a savage? In this 
very room! It wasn't a month ago! Carl 
Heise! 

HEISE 

Ach! But a month ago! There wasn't 

war then! Now we are called to defend 

our country! 

MAX 

Who made it necessary to defend it? 
Were you asked about it? Closet-made 
wars! 

PROPRIETOR 

Bustling up to them. 

Careful, die Herren! No treason ! They'd 

shut my shop ! 

MAX 

They'll shut your shop, all right! They'll 

shut your shop, anyway! They'll drag you 

out, and take your goods. They'll tie a 



18 THE HATE BREEDERS 

sword to you. They'll make a target out of 
you, a target for the Kaiser's cousins. Ay, 
and our brothers! Who was it said we are 
all brothers? The one who said: Thou 
shalt not kill! And why do they say we 
must kill? For the Fatherland, and what is 
the Fatherland? Isn't it the people, our 
brothers? The people they are going to 
kill by millions? Isn't it the women who 
send their sons to the firing-line? Isn't it 
the little children, the children who are 
robbed of their fathers, the children who 
must pay the war-debts by the sweat of their 
backs? Have they no right to say whether 
they want to be saved that way? Then our 
country is in danger! But war won't save 
it! War means more wars; more hatreds. 
We need ports, Germany does, markets for 
our goods, colonies to consume them. We 
need a place in the sun. We must fight to 
get it; we must fight to keep it. Expansion. 
That's what this war means. And expansion 



THE HATE BREEDERS 19 

means more war. Alsace and Lorraine 

again. What have they brought to us but 

hatreds? 

There is a confusion of voices, out of 
which the proprietor tries in vain to be 
heard. 

PROPRIETOR 
Die H err en! Die H err en! 

MAX 
Tell your Kaiser. Never a better time to 
tell him. He'll listen to you now. You've 
got the power. Without you, he can't fight. 
He doesn't want war. He wants what war 
can bring to him. The gunmakers, those 
men who have purses for hearts, they don't 
want war. It is the only way they can get 
what they do want, a market for their goods, 
for their gold fringe, for their guns, for 
their brass buttons. They are selling the 
wrong goods! Make them sell the right 
goods ! Make them stop making money out 
of the maimed bodies of men; out of the 
tears and shame of women ; out of the bur- 



20 THE HATE BREEDERS 

dens of a stunted race. We are slaves! Tell 
the Kaiser to fight his own duel with the 
Czar, his cousin. He doesn't hate the Czar. 
He is afraid of Russia. So we're told to hate 
Russians. Do we hate them? I don't. 
They're men, just like us. My sister mar- 
ried a Russian. 

VOICE 

My brother's wife's a Russian. 

ANOTHER VOICE 
My mother was a Russian. She came 

from Moscow. 

MAX 

I told you. We don't hate Russians. But 
we've got to kill Russians. We don't hate 
the English, but we must kill Englishmen. 
It's our business to murder Englishmen, 
Frenchmen, everybody but Germans. That's 
our trade, paid murderers. 

A VOICE 
The English hate us. They are jealous 
of us, of our trade. 



the hate breeders 21 

max: 

They're told to hate us. So they hate 
Germany, the idea of Germany. We hate 
the idea of France, of England. That is 
what the kings teach us. That is what they 
call patriotism, loving your country, believ- 
ing it is always right; hating the other coun- 
tries; believing them always wrong. The 
kings tell us that; the newspapers rub it into 
us. We are their fighting machine. We are 
fed with songs, with the Idea in them; we 
are made drunk with pride and singing 
and fury. Singing! The other night — for 
three nights didn't they keep us whipped 
up, singing, drinking, crying, "Hoch der 
Kaiser, hoch das Vaterland!" before they 
dared tell us there'd be war? And then 
when we were drunk with the Idea, they 
proclaimed war. And you don't call it 
slavery? Shot if we don't kill men we don't 
hate, shot if we don't make widows and 
orphans of helpless women and children! 



22 THE HATE BREEDERS 

And then they must fight, the children, 
later on, because of the hate we've passed 
on to them. What end is there to re- 
venge? What end to hate once started? 
Boundaries to humanity! Why should 
there be boundaries to humanity? Did 
the white Christ tell us to kill our enemies? 
Did He tell you to love patriotism? Kings' 
patriotism means revenge, killing your 
brothers. Let's forswear patriotism! Let's 
crush the Idea! Put in its place the Christ 
idea! Humanity! Brotherhood! All of 
you! Hoch humanity! Humanity! 

VOICES 
Weakly, as though in spite of their fears. 

Humanity ! Humanity ! 

PROPRIETOR 

Helplessly. 

But this is treason! Ich bitte Sie, die 
Herren! 

No one pays any attenion to him. He flut- 
ters around like a distracted fowl. 



THE HATE BREEDERS 23 

MAX 

Beside himself with fervor and prophecy. 

Humanity! It is the hour! Eberhard, 
Hans, who is brave enough to die for his 
principles? Carl, all of you! Down with 
the Idea ! Think of Ehrman ! 

A VOICE 

Angrily. 

Ay, what happened to Ehrman? 

ANOTHER VOICE 

Shot as a traitor! Left a widow and son 
to be called the widow and son of a traitor! 

MAX 

It's the system that calls him a traitor. 
Because we are slaves. Generations to come 
will know the name of Ehrman! 



MAN 

In uniform. 

I've been ordered to join my regiment. 



24 THE HATE BREEDERS 

MAX 

Beside himself with impatience. 

Ordered! Does that make you go? 
Order your regiment to stay at home! You 
can. It can't go without you. It isn't a 
regiment without you. Oh, why won't you 
see it? On us, the few of us here to-night, 
hangs the peace or the crime of Europe. 
Death for the rebels against slavery, and 
Germany's free! Free to rise to the stature 
of a human being. Free to be called a 
Christian nation; no longer a barbarous 
nation — 

VOICE 

Take that back! 

ANOTHER VOICE 
You call all of our heroes barbarians? 

MAX 

In a rage. 

I won't take it back. We're slaves. Is 
slavery civilized? Our heroes didn't know 
any better. We've traveled a long way, the 



THE HATE BREEDERS 25 

last fifty years. What makes a sin? The 
conviction of sin! You've all said it, that 
you can't make wrong right, and you can't 
make might right! And that's the rotten 
kernel — Might! They've buried His law 
of love miles deep under their forts, under 
their guns and their cannons, and then they 
pray to 'Him: Lord, lead our armies! 
Every nation is barbarous until she learns 
to despise that lie. Might is the Prussian 
idea. The whole world's afraid of it, and 
so what does it do? Follows the same plan! 
All the nations straining to keep up a rela- 
tive mountain of defense, when a relative 
valley of defense would be as powerful and 
wouldn't crush the people! Can might 
keep power? That was Rome's idea, too. 
And where is Rome? China has seen na- 
tion after nation try that same plan, and die. 
And we scorn China! We haven't learned 
our world lessons yet; what we take by the 
sword, we lose by the sword! To set Ger- 



26 THE HATE BREEDERS 

many free, that's my patriotism! To free 

Germany from her shackles, from her 

superstitions. 

VOICES 

Germany free! 

MAX 

Waving his hands above his head. 

Hear me say it. I refuse to fight. I, 
Max Dohrman. I choose Ehrman's way. 
That's heroism! 

PROPRIETOR 

Thrusting himself forward apoplectically. 

Ich bitte Sie, no treason! No treason, 

die Herren! 

He stops short as the door at the top of 
the stairs is pushed in. The street can 
be seen to be full of people, men and 
women staring down into the beer hall. 

A MAN 
There he is. 

GIRL'S VOICE 
Oh, where is he? 

She comes running down the stairs, break- 
ing through the dour group, and flings 



THE HATE BREEDERS 27 

herself on Max, who has jumped down 
at the sound of her voice. 

THESI 
Oh, Max! 

MAX 
Why did you come here, my Thesi? 

THESI 

Oh, Max, I can not bear it. They told 
me such fearful things. They say you are 
going to defy the — Kaiser! You are going 
to be sh-shot! Sh-sh-shot as a traitor! 

MAX 

Folding her in his arms, and pulling up 
her face that he may drink up the 
sweetness of every feature. 

It is a surprise to my Thesi? When she 
knows what I believe, how I feel? 

THESI 

Sobbing in his arms. 

Ach, it used to sound grand! But then, 
there was no war. Now, it's different. 



28 THE HATE BREEDERS 

MAX 

Tenderly as to a little child. 

No, my Thesi, it's not different. 

A VOICE 

It's true what she says. It is different. 
Orders make the difference. 

They turn suddenly to one another, uncon- 
sciously huddling. They question with 
awed eyes the sound of tramping feet 
coming to them out of the silence of a 
minute before. There is a muffled sound 
of drums, of martial music. 

THESI 

In ecstasy of fright. 

They're coming! They're coming after 
you! 

MAX 

Supporting her. 

Who's coming, my Thesi? 

THESI 

Soldiers! They will shoot you! They 
will shoot you, Max! 



THE HATE BREEDERS 29 

MAX 

Proudly. 

Because I am a slave! Because we are 
barbarians! Because we are not free! 

THESI 
Go with them, Max! Go with them, 

Max! 

MAX 

To his companions, imploringly. 

Stand firm. Don't let them scare you! 

The door is flung open as the music dies 
into the last strain of Die Wacht am 
Rhein. An officer, followed by a hand- 
ful of soldiers, steps inside. There is a 
glimpse of uniforms, of soldiers, before 
the door is shut. 

OFFICER 
His Majesty, our gracious Kaiser, know- 
ing the grief and confusion which this war 
so wantonly thrust upon him must cause 
his subjects, is disposed to be lenient toward 
the few of his soldiers who have not sprung 
to their country's need. His most gracious 
pardon is here extended to those who avail 



30 THE HATE BREEDERS 

themselves of this opportunity, their last, to 
wipe the stain of dishonor from their uni- 
forms, from their families, from their na- 
tion. Carl Eberhard! 

MAX 

Turning from his Thesi. 

No! 

OFFICER 
Carl Eberhard! 

EBERHARD 

Glancing wildly at Max as though implor- 
ing his forgiveness. 

Here! 

OFFICER 

Carl Heise! 

Max Dohrman moves as though to inter- 
pose himself between the officer and 
Heise, but Thesi clings to him. 

HEISE 

Slowly, painfully, as though disowning his 
child. 

Here! 

MAX 

Appalled. 

Comrades, what do you do? 



THE HATE BREEDERS 31 

OFFICER 

Silence there! Ludwig Stroebel! 

STROEBEL 

Here! 

OFFICER 

Franz Weber! 

WEBER 

Slowly. 
Here! 

OFFICER 

Otto Wideman! 

WIDEMAN 

Trying to get Max to look at him, but 
Max has turned away, sick at heart. 

Here! 

OFFICER 

Wilhelm Dittmer! 

DITTMER 

Briskly. 

Here! 

There is a silence, a tension, before : 

OFFICER 
Max Dohrman! 

Max tries to speak, but his Thesi's fingers 
have gone over his lips. She nods to 
Wideman, beseechingly. 



32 THE HATE BREEDERS 

WIDEMAN 

Choking. 

Here! 

MAX 

Hurling her from him. 

It is a lie. I did not answer. I say: No! 
I, Max Dohrman. I will not fight. I will 
not be a beast for any Kaiser! 

OFFICER 

Then it's death. Death for Max Dohr- 
man. 

MAX 

Crossing his arms proudly, and smiling at 
the soldiers who stare at him abashed. 

I'm here. Put it down: Death for Max 
Dohrman. 

THESI 

Crying. 

Max, you must not! If not for your own 
sake, if you don't care for yourself any more, 
for your own honor any more, then for your 
Thesi's sake, for your mother; oh, think of 
your poor mother, Max! Max! You must 
hear me! 



THE HATE BREEDERS 33 

OFFICER 

With distinct emphasis. 

Death, with dishonor. 

MAX 

Folding his arms. 

IVe chosen. 

THESI 

Wildly. 

I will not let you choose. I have the right 
to your life. You promised it to me. I give 
it to your country. You will come back to 
me. The war will soon be over. You will 
come back to me! 

MAX 

Ach, Thesi, that is all over. The chance 
of life. Of love. This is death. 

THESI 

Shuddering. 

A coward's death! 

MAX 

Fiercely turning on her. 
Is it a coward who says: Shoot me! 
Shoot me now! Tell my countrymen I 
died to save them! 



34 THE HATE BREEDERS 

THESI 

No! No! 

Flings herself wildly across his chest, her 
arms outstretched, facing with collapsed 
defiance the officer and the soldiers. 

OFFICER 
Line up. That's a sensible fellow. Your 
death would be useless. It would be hushed 
up. No one would hear of it. Your people 
would be ashamed to tell of it, or to weep 
for you. Useless. Line up, Dohrman. 

EBERHARD 

Behind Max. 

It's too strong for us ! 

MAX 

His head suddenly drooping, falling into 
line. 

It's too strong for us! 

The officer wheels, marches up the steps, 
followed by his soldiers, and Max and 
his comrades. As Max passes Thesi, 
who has fallen into a chair, her head on 
the table in a passion of weeping, of re- 
lief and fear and grief, he pats her on 
the shoulder. She raises her head to 
look after him, through tears. As the 



THE HATE BREEDERS 35 

door opens, the band can be heard play- 
ing Deutschland iiber A lies. One by 
one, the men file through the door. Max, 
the last, his face as though already dead, 
is about to pass out. 

THESI 



Max! 



Springing up, sudden realization coming to 
her. 



She holds out her arms to him. He walks 
out as though in a trance, without turn- 
ing to her bitter cry. As the door shuts, 
the room darkens, and the anesthetic 
throbbing begins. There is a period of 
total darkness, during which the throb- 
bing dynamo can be heard, and the 
muffled whispers of doctors and nurses. 



More ether! 
More light! 



THIRD SCENE 

The curtain rises on a street scene, daylight, in 
Konigsplatz, looking west down the Siegesalle, or 
street of heroes, whose statues flank the street. The 
great Siegessaule, or monument of victory, two hun- 
dred feet high, carrying the cannon of despoiled na- 
tions, crowns the Platz. Men and women are march- 
ing back and forth, eagerly talking; some women are 
weeping. 

WOMEN 
They're coming! They're coming! 

A MAN'S VOICE 
The troops ! 

Men, women and children all line up at 
foot of the Siegessaule to make room for 
the troops. Their handkerchiefs fly, as 
a band enters playing the national airs. 
The troops follow. 

VOICES 
Ach, the brave soldiers! 
My Fritz ! 
The splendid army! 
The Kaiser's children! 

36 



THE HATE BREEDERS 37 

OLD WOMAN 

With a basket, and leaning on a cane. 

If I could only get a look at my boy! My 

boy is out there! If I could only see my 

boy! 

A WOMAN 

Turning curiously to look at her. 
I heard he refused to fight? 

OLD WOMAN 
Not fight? My Max? It was wicked 
lying men who said that! He is a good 
Christian lad, my Max. Of course he will 
fight! 

ANOTHER WOMAN 

I thought he was a Socialist? 

OLD WOMAN 
Ach, he had notions. All boys have no- 
tions. But he would never refuse to fight. 
I brought him up too well for that! 

VOICES 
Here they are! 



38 THE HATE BREEDERS 

The troops ! 
The soldiers! 

The crowd gets in the way of the lame 
woman as the troops march on to the 
stage. The band is playing Deutsch- 
land ilber A lies. Voices in the crowd 
take up the song. There is a thrill of 
emotion in every voice, excitement in 
every face. Women pelt the soldiers 
with posies, crying, singing, smiling. 
The soldiers are halted in their march 
by some unseen blockade ahead. Eber- 
hard and Max are near the monument 
to Victory. Eberhard stoops to pick up 
a blossom at his feet. 

EBERHARD 

This is better than being shot! 

MAX 

Sullenly. 

A trick. They are heating our blood. 
They are feeding our engines. 

OLD WOMAN 
I wish I could see my boy! 

EBERHARD 

Joining in the song. 

Deutschland, Deutschland, ilber alles, ilber 

alles in der Welt, 



THE HATE BREEDERS 39 

Wenn es stets zu Schutz and Trutze, brude- 

lich zuzammen halt; 
Von der Maas bis an die Memel, vone der 

Etsch bis an den Belt; 
Deutschland, Deutschland, uber alles, ilber 

alles in der Welt. 

EBERHARD 

Turning to Max as the band stops. 

Do you remember how we used to sing 
that at Heidelberg? 

MAX 
A trick ! Heating our blood ! 

The band starts again with Die Wacht am 
Rhein. The crowd joins in the song. 

EBERHARD 

Nudging Max. 

Sing, Max! 

MAX 

Swept in reluctantly at first, the song fir- 
ing him. 

Es brauset ein Ruf wie Donnerhall, 
Mit Schwert-geklirr und Wogenprall, 



40 THE HATE BREEDERS 

Zum Rhein, zum Rhein, zum deutschen 

Rhein, 
Wer will des Stromes Hitter sein?> 
Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig seinf 
Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig seinf 
Fest steht und treu die Wacht, die Wacht 

am Rhein! 
Fest steht und treu die Wacht, die Wacht 

am Rhein! 

OLD WOMAN WITH CANE 
I hear my boy's voice! I hear my boy's 

voice! 

MAN 

Noticing her excitement. 

Have you a son there? 

OLD WOMAN 

Wiping her eyes. 

I heard his voice. If I could only see his 

face I 

MAN 

Picking her up in his arms. 

There, can you see your boy now? 



THE HATE BREEDERS 41 

OLD WOMAN 
Oh, I see him! I see him! My Max. 
How fine he looks! My boy! Look at me, 
Max! 

MAX 

Singing, waves at her. 

Fest steht und treu die Wacht, die Wacht 
am Rhein! 

OLD WOMAN 

Let me down ! I must go to him ! I must 
go to my boy! 

She tries to push her way through the 
crowd which thickens between her and 
the troops. 

OLD WOMAN 

Crying, bewildered, not knowing which 
way to go. 

I Ve lost my boy ! Where is my boy? I've 

lost my boy! 

A voice from the street calls out, Hoch der 
Kaiser! The cry surges through the 
street, like a swelling wave. Hoch der 
Kaiser! Hoch das Vaterland! 



42 THE HATE BREEDERS 

AN OFFICER. 
To old woman who is getting in the way. 

Stand back! The troops are moving! 

OLD WOMAN 
But I am his mother! I may never see 
him again! I am his mother! 

MAN 

In the crowd. 

The country is his mother! The Kaiser 

is his father! 

VOICES 

Hoch der Kaiser! 

OFFICER 

Who has been observing Max, approaches 
him, glowering. 

EBERHARD 

Nudging Max. 
Hoch der Kaiser. 

MAX 

Wildly. 

Hoch der Kaiser. Hoch das Vaterland. 
Hoch the great Idea! 



THE HATE BREEDERS 43 

OLD WOMAN 

Catching a glimpse of her boy as the troops 
begin to move. 

Max ! Speak to me, Max ! Your mother, 
Max ! Your mother ! 

MAX 

Stumbling blindly. 
The Fatherland! 

Amid cries of das Vaterland, and der 
Kaiser! the troops march away, hand- 
kerchiefs flying after them, tears falling 
for them. The band still plays. A sol- 
dier roughly pushes the old woman back 
into the crowd. 

SOLDIER 

Gruffly. 

Stand back, woman ! Let the troops pass ! 
You're blocking the way! 

OLD WOMAN 
But he is my son! 

Sobbing. 

I've lost my son ! I've lost my son ! 

VOICES 
The Fatherland! The Kaiser! The 
Kaiser! The Fatherland! 



44 THE HATE BREEDERS 

Darkness again, and the throbbing as of 
dynamos. The voice of the doctor can 
be heard. 

Quick! Give me that knife! 

And then the sweet voice of the nurse, as 
though from a distance : 

Breathe deep, mein lieber, breathe deep. 
Hold my hand! 

SURGEON'S VOICE 
Ach, Gott, he's coming to! 

HEAD SURGEON 
More ether! 

And then muffled rustlings in the dark, 
sound of footsteps running. Then a 
sudden silence. 



FOURTH SCENE 

Curtain rises on a gloomy scene. Twilight slipping 
into night in a deserted corner of the battle-field, by 
a trench. Over the ground are strewn terribly still 
bodies. Two soldiers lie side by side, Max Dohrman 
and a Belgian, the latter mortally wounded, his face 
graying. Dohrman is lying against a mound of earth, 
his eyes staring right at You! In the distance, to the 
right, is the cathedral of Louvain. A few prostrate 
wretches writhe and moan from time to time, but most 
of them lie rigid, and one by one the moans die away 
into the stillness of death. The face of Max can be 
plainly seen, because of his semi-upright position. He 
is suffering; his features work with pain; every little 
while his hand moves over his chest. During this 
scene, the twilight slowly deepens. 

BELGIAN 

Weakly. 

I want a drink! If I could only have a 

drink! 

MAX 

There's only a drop in my flask. Can 

you reach your hand? This fire in my 

chest — 

BELGIAN 
I can't. 

Simply. 

Both my arms are gone. 

45 



46 THE HATE BREEDERS 

MAX 

Sorrowfully. 

Did I do that? I saw you running. Run- 
ning toward me. I felt a fury, a fury to 
kill you! You were the Idea, the great Idea. 
I had to get you. How you must hate me! 

BELGIAN 
It doesn't matter, so much, not now! It's 
war! I got a shot or two into you. But I'm 

done for. 

MAX 

Trying to see the other, but falling back 
again. 

It's not so bad as that? God! I mean as 
good as that! If you had only killed me! 

BELGIAN 
Haven't you — any one to live for? 

MAX 

I've a sweetheart, and an old mother. But 
they wanted me to kill people. The Idea 
had them, too, of hate. That's patriotism, 



THE HATE BREEDERS 47 

hating everybody that wasn't born in your 
own country. Have you a sweetheart, too? 

BELGIAN 
I've — a wife! It wasn't a year ago that 
we were married. There's a baby coming. 
It may be here now. And I'll never see it. 

MAX 

It will grow up to be a soldier. It will 

grow up wanting to kill Germans. He will 

help cry for the next war. We are war 

breeders, that's what we are, hate breeders! 

BELGIAN 

Moans. 

r A drink! 

MAX 

God! Is it as bad as that, comrade? 

BELGIAN 
I'm dying. 

MAX 

God in Heaven, if I could change places 

with you ! 

BELGIAN 

Weakly. 



48 THE HATE BREEDERS 

You're a German. I didn't know they 

could be kind I 

MAX 

We're all men. If we could all meet 
each other, we'd find we are just men. It's 
war that makes brutes of us; war finishes 
what the barracks begin. All this day, I 
wanted to run away somewhere. I lay in 
that trench, the sun beating down on my 
head, the ground steaming from the rain of 
last night. The sun shone so, and I had ter- 
rible thoughts. I wanted to get away from 
this — hell! I wanted to run and find the 
white Christ, if He isn't dead, too, to tell 
Him to stop His children from killing one 
another. Then I saw you running. I was a 
beast in a minute. You were Belgium! The 
thing we must kill to get past you! I shot 
at you, shot at you, shot at you ! Again, and 
again, and again! 

BELGIAN 
Some one cried the Prussians were right 



THE HATE BREEDERS 49 

back of us — the confusion, I was running 
away! 

MAX 

It makes us all mad, much of this. You 
dying, and wanting to live. And I pray- 
ing for death to come quick! But they 
won't let me die! They will patch me 
up, and send me back here, as long as I can 
carry a gun! And I'll go on killing, killing! 
You'll go on living, too. Living and kill- 
ing! 

BELGIAN 

I'm finished! 

MAX 

Lifting himself up with difficulty, but fall- 
ing back, gasping. 

Don't leave me, Belgium. I should go 
mad, lying here, watching you whom I've 
killed. That's worse than death, madness, 
watching some one you've killed. I didn't 
hate you! I didn't know you! Last night, 
if I could forget last night! 



50 THE HATE BREEDERS 

BELGIAN 
It rained last night! 

MAX 

Back there, there are houses. I'd gone 
after water. A girl ran out from a hut, 
screaming. There were soldiers, two brutes, 
after her. She looked like my Thesi. She 
cried to me to save her. I saved her from 
them. But God wasn't by to save her from 
me. See what they have made of me. That's 
war. I can never forget her face. It looked 
like my Thesi's. 

BELGIAN: 
Don't stop talking! 

MAX 

It's so bad, the pain, then? How can you 

speak to me? 

BELGIAN 

It's the pain, too, but those men, groan- 
ing! And my wife, my wife back there! 
No one to look after her, now I'm gone. I 



THE HATE BREEDERS 51 

don't want to hear my own thoughts. Go 

on talking. 

MAX 

'Have you thought what war is? I've 
lain in these trenches, soaked with rain, 
burned up with sun, and I've thought, and 
thought. I've seen the truth about war. 
Why it goes on. 

BELGIAN 

His voice growing weaker. 

There has always been war. There will 
always be war. 

MAX 

There will always be war as long as men 
think war, plan for war. What you get 
ready for, what you are always thinking 
about is sure to happen. They tricked 
us with the lie that we could prevent 
war by getting ready for war. It was be- 
cause we were ready that we wouldn't take 
time to talk about it. Taking time to talk 
things over, that's the way to cool things 



£2 THE HATE BREEDERS 

down. Men should make a law that nations 
can not fight for a year after any trouble. 
You've got to settle it by talking after the 
fighting's done; why not do it first before 
the wounds have made everybody sore? It 
looks simple in the trenches. It doesn't look 
simple outside in the world because of all 
the money invested. Every dollar a nation 
invests in war, in preparing for war, it is 
going to get back in blood. Blood and 
broken bodies, and fired towns. When the 
people learn how they are tricked, they'll 
put an end to war. It's the people who will 
do it; when they wake up. They'll tear 
down the forts as they did the Bastille. 
They'll throw the guns into the sea. 

BELGIAN 

Gasping. 

Yes. Go on ! 

MAX 

Slowly, as though hunting for ideas, gath- 
ering fire as he talks. 

I said we were breeding hate here. We'll 



THE HATE BREEDERS '53 



have to rest for a while, they'll all have to 
rest for a while, when this is over, and then 
the gunmakers will begin talking revenge 
again, revenge and these hatreds. Remem- 
ber Louvain ! your people will cry. They'll 
work them all up again! Your child, too, 
maybe. That girl that looked like my 
Thesi! She'll teach her baby's lips to curse 
the Germans. Why, we're not fiends, we 
Germans. See what it does to make all men 
soldiers! You think it was Germany that 
ruined your country. I tell you, it was war ! 
Some day the world will understand it. 
War's the fiend men should make war on! 
Max pauses to listen, goes on slowly. 

Our homes aren't burned yet, German 
homes, nor our churches, and we're proud 
because we say we can keep our enemies 
out of the Fatherland! Have we? What 
has war brought to us, in Germany? In 
my regiment there was a doctor. He had 
spent twenty years finding a cure for a tef- 



54 THE HATE BREEDERS 

rible disease. War came. He had to go, 
for he was a slave. I saw him shot through 
the heart. That wasn't one death. Thou- 
sands died that minute, the thousands he 
would have saved. There's a man who 
wrote books, poetry that makes your heart 
beat quick, that makes you proud to be a 
man and a German. I saw him fall; 
Belgian bullets. More than a man was 
killed, splendid thinking — splendid help- 
ing! There's a man who made heavenly 
music ; played it, wrote it. They made his 
blood boil with hate. They turned him into 
a beast, a murdering, ravenous beast. They 
say's he mad now. Lots of them go mad. 
They can't stand this. If you leave me, 
Belgium, I'll go mad, too! 

BELGIAN 

Gasping. 
Keep — on — talking to me! 

MAX 
The best painter in Germany. His head 



THE HATE BREEDERS '$$ 

blown off! England did it — or France. 
We've ruined you, Belgium, but we've 
ruined ourselves, too! 

There is no answer. It has grown dark. 
The two men lie silent. Max, question- 
ing at last the silence, tries to see the 
face of the Belgian. Listens with rising 
terror. 

MAX 

At last. 

I can't hear him breathe. Belgium! 
Speak to me! Breathe for me! Belgium! 

Again there is silence on the field of death. 
Max listening. 

MAX 

His voice shrilling. 
He's gone! 

It grows darker. The dead are scarcely 
visible. The stricken wretches have 
stopped their writhings. 

MAX 

Don't leave me, Belgium! I'll see Her 
face, the girl that looked like my Thesi. 
I'll see your face, the man I butchered, 
taunting me, Max Dohrman, murderer. 



56 THE HATE BREEDERS 

Stay with me, talk to me ! Stay till the night 
is gone. Belgium ! Just one word ! Moan, 
moan, anything, just live, Belgium! I'll 
go mad! Those smells; The dark! Those 
faces, blue eyes, like my Thesi ! 

Silence. 

My cartridges gone! Not one, God! to 
end it! If I could reach his belt! I'll reach 
his belt! 

Crawls, moaning piteously, slowly toward 
the body of the dead soldier. 

They won't find me! I won't be here 
when they come ! 

Reaches, painfully crawling, the body of 
the Belgian. 

God's hell! Lying on it! Fire in my 
chest! Fire in my head! Pain! Pain! 
Don't look at me that way, Thesi! I didn't 
know it was you, Thesi! You sent me; it 
was you, you! If women knew what war 
is, they wouldn't want their men to be sol- 
diers. You didn't want me to be a coward; 
you wanted me to kill that poor Bel- 



THE HATE BREEDERS '57 

gian — I I didn't hate him! God, the brute 
I am! Don't look like that, Belgium! 

Covers his face with his hands. 

Lying on your belt to get even with me! 

God, you're even. Alone, alone! Where's 

my knife? Gone, too! Don't you look at 

me, don't you touch me ! 

Screams. 
Belgium! 

The darkness is intense, and the silence. 
Only the beating, like that of a fright- 
ened heart, can be heard, clapping like 
a dynamo somewhere, beyond, outside, 
throbbing, throbbing. Then in the back- 
ground come lights, like fireflies moving 
close to the ground, flickering over the 
field. Dark shapes, as of silent men, are 
behind them. Then they all pass away 
but one, which settles against the wall 
of the cathedral. It swells into a great 
white moon, growing larger — a great 
Brobdingnagian moon. Over its surface, 
pictures begin to play. 

PICTURES 

A doctor in his laboratory at work. Into his room 
comes an officer who looks like the Kaiser. He hands 
the doctor orders. There is the sound of martial 
music; of Deutschland uber A lies. The doctor drops 
his vial as he stretches out his hand for the orders. 



58 



THE HATE BREEDERS 



Comes a woman into the room, and pleads with him, 
clinging to him. He kisses her, and tears himself from 
her arms. 

A man sits at his desk writing. He raises his head, 
as though challenging a sound. He jumps to his feet, 
raising a window back of his desk. Cries of Hoch der 
Kaiser, hoch das Vaterland? He throws down his 
manuscript, and rushes from the room. 

A man at a piano, playing dreamily, as though im- 
provising. The Kaiser officer enters, throws the sheets 
of music lying on the piano roughly to the ground. He 
points to the open door, and one hears a band in the 
distance, as though veiled, playing Deutschland iiber 
A lies. As in a trance, the player follows the officer 
from the room, gazing wistfully back as though saying 
farewell to all his dreams. 

A painter at his easel. Comes the sound of march- 
ing music, comes the sound of marching feet. He 
throws down his brushes, and jumps up, to face the 
officer. The far-off strains of Deutschland are heard. 

A peaceful fireside scene. A man with his children, 
his wife, and his old mother, who is knitting. Into 
this peace strides the Kaiser officer, and throws the 
orders into the man's hands. Peace becomes woe. The 
wife weeps and pleads with the officer. The children 
cast themselves upon him. The old mother's knitting 
drops to the ground, her face showing a terrible de- 
spair. 

The next scene is one of battle. One scene after an- 
other passes across the Brobdingnagian moon. Men in 
the trenches; men firing guns; men shooting at human 



THE HATE BREEDERS 59 

targets; men dying. And then, the light is seen to 
dwindle; it moves low to the ground; comes nearer to 
Max, until it is seen to be a bull's eye lantern carried 
by a doctor. He is follawed by an assistant. 

MAX 

Whispering. 

Coming! Coming to find me! I shall 
fool them! I shall not breathe! 

Lies motionless as the lantern draws nearer. 
The doctor and his assistant stop to ex- 
amine the bodies, listening, prodding. 

SURGEON 

His hand on the Belgian's heart. 

Dead. Quite cold. 

ASSISTANT 

Touching Max. 

Both dead. Hold on ! I'm not sure about 
this one! This one's not dead! 

SURGEON 

He's not dead! Give me that light. His 

pulse is all right. Why, we can save this 

one! 

MAX 

Suddenly yelling. 



6o THE HATE BREEDERS 

You won't save me ! I won't let you save 
me ! I won't come back here ! Do you hear 
me? I won't come back to this hell! Kill 
me here! Finish your work! Hoch the 
great Idea! Let it live forever, the great 
Idea, Might! Let it kill Germany! 



SURGEON 
Another of the mad ones 
ASSISTANT 



Straightening. 



Poor devil ! 

SURGEON 

We must rush him to the hospital ! 

Puts a whistle to his lips. Blows. 

MAX 

Wildly. 

Kill me here! Bury me with the poems 
and the music, with the books and the dis- 
coveries! Burn us all up! Burn us over 
there! 

Points to horizon, where a fire is beginning. 
The outlines of the church can be seen. 



THE HATE BREEDERS 6l 

ASSISTANT 
Firing Louvain? 

MAX 
The world is burning! Civilization is 

burning! 

SURGEON 

We'll have to strap him. 

MAX 

Everything is gone but hate! 

SURGEON 
Hold his hands. He'll hurt himself. 

MAX 
Hoch the great Idea! 

Men come, carrying a stretcher. As they 
are raising him, the bull's eye lantern 
full upon him, a gust of wind comes, 
blowing the blankets which the men 
hold into sails. 

SURGEON 
Wrap him up. A cold wind's rising. 

The wind increases, and the lanterns ap- 
pear to be blown out. Darkness wraps 



62 THE HATE BREEDERS 

the battle-field. The anesthetic throb- 
bing begins. The sound of hurrying 
steps are heard, and whispers, indistin- 
guishable whispers. 
Before the lights flare out again, the voice 
of the surgeon is heard. 

SURGEON, 
Quick, a towel ! 

NURSE 
He's coming to. 



FIFTH SCENE 

The lights come on. The operating-room is dis- 
closed. The surgeons and the nurses are bloodspat- 
tered. The table, the space around the table are gory. 

DOCTOR 

To surgeon. 
Shall I give him more ether? 

SURGEONi 
Let him come to. 

WHITE-WRAPPED NURSE 

Tenderly. 

There, quiet, my son. There, there, my 
boy. You have had a nice sleep, mein 
lieber. You've been dreaming. 

MAX 
Dead! Dead! 

His voice is thick. 
SURGEON 
Living! Far from dead, mein lieber! 

SECOND NURSE 

Impulsively. 

63 



64 THE HATE BREEDERS 

Oh, why can't you let him think it a while 
longer? Don't torture him yet! 

SURGEON 

Staring at her through his large glasses 
solemnly, as though she were a child 
speaking when not spoken to. She re- 
treats. 

No, mein lieber. Living! We've saved 
another brave soldier for his regiment. In 
six weeks — 

SECOND SURGEON 
Quick, hold his hands! 

Doctors and nurses hold him. Outside in 
the distance a bomb explodes, blanching 
the faces of the nurses. 

MAX 

Stares, then screams. 

You've patched me up, you'll send me 
back to that? God, why didn't you kill me? 
Don't look at me like that, Thesi! 

Looks wildly at the white-robed nurse. 

Blue eyes, blue eyes, like my Thesi! I 
thought she was an angel, too, but she was 



THE HATE BREEDERS 65 

mad, like all the world. Mad to kill. It 
is burning us all up. I didn't hate you, Bel- 
gium. You were in my way. I had to get 
you, to get past you! It wasn't my fault! 
I didn't begin it! The others began it! I 
didn't hate any one! He said not to kill — 

Exhausted, he falls back. 

SURGEON 
Raving again ! He'll be all right to-mor- 
row. He's not out of the ether yet. 

SECOND NURSE 

Shaking her head sadly. 

He's not raving. He's seen the truth out 
there ! 

Nobody listens to her. 

MAX 

With superhuman strength, suddenly pulls 
himself up. 

Kill me! Burn me! 

They fall on him, and get him down. 
SURGEON 

Strap his feet! 



66 THE HATE BREEDERS 

Enter the head nurse, followed by attend- 
ants. She motions them toward the sol- 
dier on the table. They move forward, 
with the stretcher. 

HEAD NURSE 

Turning briskly to the other nurses. 

Clean up for the next! 

MAX 

Screams as the attendants touch him. 

Slaves ! 

QUICK CURTAIN 







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